He was the son of a Church of Ireland rector but was also descended from the O ' Donnells of Tyrconnell, through the Ramsays.

As a result, King James I of England granted some lands to Niall Garve, but raised Rory to the peerage as Rory O ' Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and also granted him the territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell.

Supported by Munster and Connacht, and assisted also by English contingents and by the MacDonnells of Antrim, O ' Neill took the castle of Ballyshannon, and after devastating a large part of Tyrconnell he encamped at Knockavoe, near Strabane.

In one exceptional case, vestigial rights have been recognised in recent Irish case law, in reference to the survival of Brehon law-governed customary local fishery rights in Tyrconnell, but these also amounted to an easement under Common Law.

Tyrconnell also therefore bordered on territory ruled by the O ' Neills of Tyrone, who were periodically attempting to assert their claim of supremacy over it, and hence the history of the O ' Donnells is for the most part a record of clan warfare with their powerful neighbours, and of their own efforts to make good their claims to the overlordship of northern Connacht, and a wider swathe of Ulster.

* Maurice O ’ Donnell de Tyrconnell ( 1780 – 1843 ), of Pressburg, also known as Moritz Graf O ’ Donnell von Tyrconnell, an Irish-Austrian Count

It appears on the coat of arms borne by Jan III Sobieski and other members of the Sobieski line ; it is also on the coat of arms of the Irish noble dynasty of O ' Donnell of Tyrconnell, the Noble House of Vassallo, and is the motto of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.

King James also created him Duke of Tyrconnell and Marquess of Tyrconnell in 1689, but these titles were recognised only by Jacobites ( see Jacobite peerage ).

Tyrconnell transformed the army ; and in August 1686 he visited England to obtain the king's permission for legislation to replace the Act of Settlement 1662.

This land was confiscated by King James I after the Flight of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell in 1607 and a series of Rebellions in the area which saw the native landlords ousted from their holdings.

Currently those distilleries operating in Ireland are: New Midleton Distillery ( Jamesons, Powers, Paddy, Midleton, Redbreast, and others, plus the independently sold rarity Green Spot ), Old Bushmills Distillery ( all Old Bushmills, Black Bush, 1608, Bushmills 10 -, 12-and 16-and 21-year-old single malts ), Cooley Distillery ( Connemara, Michael Collins, Tyrconnell, and others ) and the reopened Kilbeggan Distillery, which began distilling again in 2007.

An apparent original of the Letters Patent of the Earldom are in the possession of Graf O ' Donell von Tyrconnell in Austria, although that family did not inherit the title, nor the related territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell, the remainders of which were destined elsewhere.

O ' Donnell ( Irish: Ó Dónaill or Ó Domhnaill ), which is derived from the forename Domhnall ( meaning " world ruler ", Rex Mundi in Latin, Modern Irish spelling, Dónall ) were an ancient and powerful Irish family, kings, princes, and lords of Tír Chonaill ( rendered in English as Tyrconnell or Tyrconnel, known today as County Donegal ) in early times, and the chief allies and sometimes rivals of the O ' Neills in Ulster.

Rory then unfortunately joined in the Flight of the Earls in 1607, which led to the title becoming attainted in 1614, and Tyrconnell and Ulster being colonised in the Plantation of Ulster.

This encouraged King Flaithbertaigh of Tyrconnell to mount raids into northern Connacht, an area over which the Cenal Conaill had long claimed jurisdiction.

* the dynastic House of O ' Donnell of Tyrconnell, which includes the Chieftaincy and its successors in direct descent from the last inaugurated Chieftain and his predecessors.

* the Hereditary Seneschal ( vested in a living O ' Donnell, who was already ennobled as a Knight of Malta, and who inherited the Seneschalship from his father ), which survives under the auspices of the Hereditary Great Seneschal or Lord High Steward of Ireland, the Premier Earl of Ireland ( Chetwynd-Talbot ), who is the Earl of Shrewsbury, Waterford and Talbot, and is senior direct descendant of the 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell ( extinct ), and senior kin of the Duke of Tyrconnel Richard Talbot ( extinct ),

* the Earldom of Tyrconnell, of which there were 4 separate creations

After their defeat at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, and the suppression of the Nine Years ' War in Ulster in 1603, Tyrone and the Prince of Tyrconnell, Lord Tyrconnell's elder brother and predecessor, had been forced into exile in January 1602 by the victorious English government of Ireland under the leadership of the Lord Mountjoy.

On 10 September 1602 the Prince of Tyrconnell had already died, allegedly assassinated, in Spain, and his brother succeeded him as 25th Chieftain of the O ' Donnell clan.

Even within the context of English and colonial Irish rule, the attainder came about six years after Rory, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, had already died.

Given this lengthy support it was reasonable for Tyrconnell and Tyrone to try to solicit help from Philip III, but Spanish policy was to maintain its recent ( 1604 ) peace with England, and its European fleet had anyway been destroyed by the Dutch over four months earlier.

James had given them some concrete concessions in the 1680s by appointing an Irish Catholic, Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell as Lord Deputy of Ireland, and by re-admitting Catholics as Army officers and into other public offices.

Thus, in 1689, when James landed at Dublin with his French officers, Tyrconnell had an Irish army ready to assist him.

James II had his Catholic viceroy Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell take action to ensure that all strong points in Ireland were held by garrisons loyal to the Jacobite cause.

Under Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, each locality had to raise a regiment to support the Jacobite cause.

Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell had been summoned to London from the command of the military forces in Ireland about the date when Clarendon set out for Dublin ( December 1685 ).

Tyrconnell, who took Clarendon's place had a final interview with him on 8 February.

The Earl of Tyrone Hugh O ' Neill, the Earl of Tyrconnell Rory O ' Donnell and the Lord of Beare and Bantry, Donal O ' Sullivan, along with many chiefs, Gallowglass, and their followers from Ulster, fled Ireland.

He took part in the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when Hugh O ' Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O ' Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, together with more than ninety of their family and followers, the chief of the Gaelic and Catholic resistance in Ireland, fled to Europe.

By 1607 O ' Neill's allies The Maguire and the Earl of Tyrconnell were finding it hard to maintain their prestige on lower incomes.

King James issued a " A Proclamation touching the Earles of Tyrone and Tyrconnell " on 15 November 1607, describing their action as treasonous, and therefore preparing the ground for the eventual forfeiture of their lands and titles.

Despite the Anglo-Spanish peace treaty of 1604, in 1607 O ' Neill, his brother-in-law the Earl of Tyrconnell, and several of their followers fled to Europe, expecting the Spanish to invade Ireland with an army.

The seven Irish peerages ( the Duke of Tyrconnell, Viscount Kenmare, Viscount Mountcashell, Viscount Mount Leinster, Baron Bourke, Baron Nugent, Baron Fitton of Gawsworth-and their subordinate peerages ) created by James II in 1689 are in an anomalous legal position, even from the Hanoverian viewpoint.

After a failed general uprising, in September 1607, Hugh O ' Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Rory O ' Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell the last Gaelic chieftains and upholders of Brehon law in Ireland at that time, set sail from Rathmullan with ninety of their followers.

Like the family of O ' Neill, that of O ' Donnell of Tyrconnell was of the Uí Néill, i. e. descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, High-King of Ireland at the beginning of the 5th century ; the O ' Neill, or Cenél nEógain, tracing their pedigree to Eógan mac Néill, and the O ' Donnells, or Cenél Conaill, to Conall Gulban, both sons of Niall.

* The Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone ( Hugh O ’ Neill ) and Tyrconnell ( Rory O ’ Donel ), their flight from Ireland and death in exile, by the Rev.

* Leopoldo O ' Donnell, 1st Duke of Tetuan, Spanish general and statesman, a descendant of Calvagh O ' Donnell, chieftain of Tyrconnell.

* August 1 – Rory O ' Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell ( b. 1575 )

* September 14 – Flight of the Earls: Hugh O ' Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O ' Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, flee Ireland for Spain with ninety followers to avoid capture by the English crown, never to return.

** Rory O ' Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell ( d. 1608 )

James II's subordinate commanders were Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, who was Lord Deputy of Ireland and James's most powerful supporter in Ireland ; and the French general Lauzun.

The Donegal ( or Tyrconnell ) Gaeltacht ( or Gaeltacht Thír Chonaill ) has a population of 24, 744 ( Census 2011 ) and represents 25 % of the total Gaeltacht population.

His grandson, Eugene Lamoral de Ligne ( 1804 – 1880 ), was a distinguished Belgian statesman, and another grandson, Count Maximilian Karl Lamoral O ' Donnell von Tyrconnell ( 1812 – 1895 ), helped save the life of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria in 1853.

James II's initial aim, and that of his deputy the Duke of Tyrconnell, was to pacify the northern Protestant strongholds.

Calbhach Ó Domhnaill, anglicized Calvagh O ' Donnell ( d. 1566 ), eldest son of Manus O ' Donnell, was an Irish King of Tyrconnell of the mid-16th century.

He was Rí and Chief of the O ' Donnell dynasty based in Tyrconnell in western Ulster.

In the course of a quarrel with his father and his half-brother Hugh, Calvagh sought aid in Scotland from the Campbells, who with access to Scottish royal artillery were able to assist him in deposing Manus and securing the now very divided lordship of Tyrconnell for himself.

Shane accordingly invaded Tyrconnell at the head of a large army in 1557, desiring to make himself supreme throughout Ulster, and encamped on the shore of Lough Swilly.

But in 1601 he quarrelled with the lord deputy, who, though willing to establish Niall Garve in the lordship of Tyrconnell, would not permit him to enforce his supremacy over Cahir O ' Doherty in Inishowen.

He left his son to rule Tyrconnell ( spelled in Irish as Tír Chonaill ), though still a boy, when he went on a pilgrimage to Rome about 1511.

When Hugh Dubh appealed for aid against his son to the Maguires, Manus made an alliance with the O ' Neills, by whose assistance he established his hold over Tyrconnell.

In 1542 he went to England and presented himself, together with Conn O ' Neill and other Irish chiefs, became a Protestant, and recognising Henry VIII, who promised to make him Earl of Tyrconnell, though he refused O ' Donnell's request to be made Earl of Sligo.

In his later years Manus was troubled by quarrels between his sons Calvagh and Hugh MacManus ; in 1555 he was imprisoned by Calvagh, who deposed him from all authority in Tyrconnell, and he died in 1564.

His second wife, Hugh's mother, by whom he was ancestor of the Earls of Tyrconnell ( see below ), was Judith, sister of Conn Bacach O ' Neill, 1st earl of Tyrone, and aunt of Shane O ' Neill.